Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Hey there, and thank you so much for the review, Yellow 14. Yes, Cho certainly suspects something is very deeply wrong when Harry's name comes out of the goblet. Later on in the story, Cho will think back on this scene with the benefit of hindsight, and it will be extremely painful for her.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, where Cho sees Cedric in the aftermath of all of this.

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The following day, the entire school was still buzzing with the news. From the moment Cho woke up, it was all anyone talked about. The names Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter were constantly being said, and Cho was desperate to see the former. At breakfast, she looked over to the Hufflepuff table to try and catch his eye, but he wasn't there.

Cho felt worry begin to form in her gut. Where was he? Was he okay? Was he not taking all of this well? She vowed to find him - all she wanted was to give him the support he needed.

Cho could barely concentrate in classes that day; Marietta was constantly snapping her back to the present with a nudge or poke to the shoulder. Amanda and Meghan spent the entire day scowling, whispering under their breaths to one another. Once, Cho would have wondered what they were saying, but now she honestly couldn't care less.

The instant classes were over, Cho made her way to the Quidditch pitch. If Cedric would go anywhere to escape his woes and worries, it would be there. After all, it was Cho's escape method as well.

As soon as she arrived, she saw that her hunch had been right. As she got closer, she felt her breath catch as she saw the expression on Cedric's face.

She'd seen him looking vulnerable and insecure before, but this was entirely new. He sat on the bleachers, staring out at the sky with a kind of helpless desperation that made her heart seize. In order not to startle him, she slowly walked closer until she was right next to him, and she gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "Cedric?" she asked gently. "Cedric, are you okay?"

Cedric looked at her, his gray eyes an open book. He sighed, and moved over so that Cho could sit down next to him. "No," he whispered in answer to Cho's question. "I'm not okay."

"No, you're really not, are you?" Cho said, growing more concerned by the minute. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"What bloody isn't wrong?" Cedric said in a tone that Cho had never heard him use before. It was laced with anger, but Cho could tell it wasn't aimed at her.

"Is it ... is it Harry?" asked Cho, and she was suddenly struck with the notion that maybe Cedric thought Harry had put his own name in the goblet, too. She doubted it, though - it seemed to her to be completely out of character for him to make such an accusation. True, she hadn't known him very long, but at the same time, it felt to her like she'd known him for a lifetime. Cedric wouldn't truly think that of Harry, would he?

But Cho didn't have to wonder for long, because Cedric promptly answered her unvoiced question. "I don't think he cheated like so many people in the school do," he said quickly, as if he needed her to know that right away. "You don't know how much sympathy I received in the common room last night. "Potter stole your glory, it's so unfair." "Don't worry, you're the true Hogwarts champion." Merlin, it just wouldn't stop. I finally had to tell everyone I was going to bed," he said, his fists clenching and unclenching in his lap. "And I was so stupid that I overslept this morning, and missed breakfast. I NEVER miss breakfast." He stopped to take a breath, and Cho continued to listen.

"But the worst of it is, I think Harry got the wrong impression when I spoke with him last night. I was so out of it that I don't think I was very supportive of him. The poor bloke looked like he was ready to faint, and now he thinks I suspect him of cheating too, like all those other fools in this bloody school."

Cho reached out to Cedric, wanting to do anything to stop him from clenching and unclenching his fists the way he was doing. She realized that Cedric had almost always been the one to initiate any kind of physical affection - he was always the one ruffling her hair or putting a hand on her shoulder; it was rare for Cho to do anything similar. She'd laid her hand on his shoulder a few times, but definitely not the way he always seemed to do. But now, without any hesitation, she laid her hand on his fist, causing him to look up at her. It was hard not to get lost in those gray eyes of his - they showed all the turmoil that he was drowning in.

"What happened?" she asked softly. "What did you say to Harry?"

"He swore he didn't put his name in the goblet and I was like, yeah, okay," Cedric said. "The way he looked at me ... I don't think I came off as being very nice."

"But why did this all happen anyway?" Cho asked, desperate to get to the heart of the matter. If Cedric had spoken like that to Harry, what was at the root of it?

And before Cedric could answer, a lightbulb went off inside her mind. Of course. She should have suspected it before - she remembered all too clearly how Cedric had looked before the champions had been chosen. His feelings had been written into his expression; the confidence he usually displayed had been nonexistent.

Cedric, still staring at the sky, slowly answered. "Harry didn't steal anything from me," he said quietly, and Cho knew he was being brutally honest. "But don't you see, Cho? Now ... now I have to spend the rest of the year proving to my father that I'm better than him."

And there it was. Cho had believed him when he'd said his dad wasn't the only reason he'd entered the Triwizard Tournament, but it had definitely been why he first thought of entering at all. And now, with Harry being champion as well, there was added pressure being heaped on his shoulders. No wonder he wasn't happy or excited about becoming champion - Harry being chosen too had inadvertently ruined things for him. Cho felt her heart swell with sympathy, and she knew that whatever Cedric had said to Harry last night, no matter how it had come off, he never meant to hurt the other boy. Cedric meant Harry no ill will, and Cho knew it.

"Ced, you don't have to prove anything of the sort," Cho tried to soothe him. "I don't know why this happened either, why Harry's suddenly been tossed into this. I'm sure he's not going to hold whatever you said last night against you. But when it comes to your dad ... Ced, screw him. Seriously, screw him. He doesn't have any right to make you feel like this."

And then, on a sudden impulse, Cho put her arms around him, giving the agonized boy beside her a hug. Merlin, no one really knew the true Cedric Diggory, did they? To most of the school, he was a boy who seemed to have no problems, who floated through the school with no worries or cares. But the boy sitting next to her was, well ... just like her. People regarded her the same way - the girl who immersed herself in her studies, who always had a bright, sunny smile for everyone, who flew around the Quidditch pitch in search of an elusive golden ball. Neither Cho Chang nor Cedric Diggory were ever thought of as two teenagers who were trying desperately to navigate a world that seemed, at times, to be way too big for them.

"Thanks, Cho," Cedric said softly, his face buried in Cho's hair. "It's much easier said than done though, you know? I've spent all day dreading that blasted owl that's going to come from my dad when he receives my letter about last night."

"Don't I know it," said Cho, her agreement all too clear. "It's much easier said than done." She reached out to stroke Cedric's hair, and she marveled at the amazing texture of it. It was soft, silky, and seemed to flow through her fingers like the feathers of a bird. "Why did you send your dad a letter at all?" she asked quietly.

"If I didn't, Cho, it would only be delaying the inevitable," Cedric murmured. "He has coworkers and friends at the Ministry whose kids go to Hogwarts. Me and Harry both being Hogwarts champions would have made its way into the letters, for sure."

Cho could see Cedric's point. "I understand," she whispered to him as she continued to stroke his hair. "Wow," she breathed. "Your hair is so soft."

For the first time that Cho had seen that day, Cedric smiled. "You like my hair?" he said, sounding very surprised and pleased. "I love yours, too." He reached out his hand and stroked hers, as if to prove his point.

"Thanks," said Cho, smiling as well as she felt his gentle hand cart through her hair.

There was a comfortable silence between them for several minutes as they simply enjoyed each other's company. Cho was very relieved to see the tension beginning to disappear from Cedric's body, some of the light returning to his gray eyes.

"It'll be okay, Cedric," Cho said softly, wanting to reassure him. "I know you're going to do a wonderful job." She smiled at him again and asked, "Were you told anything about the first task?"

"Not much," Cedric told her. "Only that it will take place on November 24, and it has something to do with daring and nerve."

A sense of both worry and intrigue stole over Cho. "Do you have any ideas of what it could be?" she asked curiously.

"I honestly don't have a clue," Cedric replied. "We weren't told any more than that. Maybe we'll know more as we get closer to the time."

"I hope so," agreed Cho. "That way, you can prepare for it."

"Yeah," said Cedric, and his eyes searched out the skies again as he grew lost in contemplation. Cho joined him in simply thinking, and she didn't remove her arm from around him. Both seemed to gain comfort from the physical contact.

And this was how they stayed until it was time for dinner. Neither wanted to leave the shelter and security of each other's presence, but they knew it was time to join the school again.

"It'll be okay, Ced," Cho told him again as their footsteps drew closer to the Great Hall, where they would go to their separate House tables.

Cedric smiled, looking so much better than when Cho had first laid eyes on him that afternoon. "Thanks, Cho," he said, and she knew he meant it. "Thanks for everything."